And sheldon norton



No. 430,058. Patented June 10, 1890.

ATTORNEYS WITNESSES:

TN: Moms PETERS cu, Panto-mum, WASHINGTON, n. c.

UNITED STATES- PATENT OFFICE.

CLINTON M. BALL, OF TROY, NEWV YORK, AND SHELDON NORTON, OF HOKEN- DAUQUA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNORS TO THE MAGNETIC SEPARATOR COMPANY, OF WVATERVLIET, NEW YORK.

METHOD OF SEPARATING ORES MAGNETICALLY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 430,058, dated June 10, 1890.

Application filed October 16, 1889. Serial No. 327,183. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, CLINTON M. BALL, of Troy, in the county of Rensselaer and State of New York, and SHELDON NORTON, of Hokendauqua, in the county of Lehigh and State of Pennsylvania, citizens of the United States, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Processand Apparatus for Separating Ores; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to a new method or :5 process for separating iron orits crushed ore from the impurities with which such are generally found associated, and while the invention is capable'of being carried into practical effect in the dry way it is more particularly adapted to carry out the separation in the wet way, in which the ore and gangue are mingled with water previous to separation.

Briefly our invention consists in passing the ore and gangue through a magnetic field, and

2 5 when emerging therefrom subjecting the adhering ore to centrifugal action, while interposing a deflector in the tangential path of the ore to separate the less magnetic from the more highly-magnetic portions of the sepa- 0 rated product, and, further, in subjecting the material to the action of a current of air opposite in direction to that taken by the material under the centrifugal impulse.

The invention further consists in the spe- 3 5 cific steps of the process and in the apparatus employed to carry such process into effect, all substantially as hereinafter fully described and claimed.

In the drawing which forms part of this specification is shown a longitudinal vertical section of a form of separator constructed in accordance with the principles of this invention and capable of operation in either the wet or the dry way.

5 We construct the apparatus in the form of a chest having the sides 1, ends 2, top 8, and hopper-shaped bottom 4. In the upper pore tion of this structure we place a revolving drum 5 and shaft 6, which latter We prefer to make hollow, so as to give access to the inte- 5orior of the drum, the shaft being laterally perforated inside the drum for conveniently introducing the electrical conductors. The drum is preferably made of non-magnetic material-such; for instance, as brass or copperor more preferably still of an electrically-nonconductive material-such as indurated fiber, hard rubber, 850. Inside the drum and upon its shaft is suspended a cylindrical segment of iron 7, having the sleeve 8, through-which the shaft passes, and forming the point of suspensionfor the segment. Radiating from the lower surface of the segment 7 are a num ber of magnet-cores 9, which extend almost into contact with the inner surface of the drum. These cores are wound with insulated wire, and by preference are connected into the exciting-circuit in such way as to make the successive poles alternately N and S.

The weight of the structure 7 8 9 is such that I ternating character of the poles of the magnetic system, We wish to state that this is not essential to the carrying out of the process herein described.

In the top of the structure We arrange a 8o hopper 10 for the introduction of the ore and gangue, and below this we place an apron 11, which guides the ore and gangue into close proximity to the drum 5. A water-tank 12 may be arranged to be supplied with water from any suitable source-such, for instance, as the pipe 13-and discharge water at the mouth 14 so as to fall downwardly in an even stream over the apron 11. The hopper-bottom 4 rises up to a point near the drum 5 on the side opposite that occupied by the apron- 11, and the distance between the upper edge and the face of the drum 5 is adjusted by means of the swinging blade 15, by moving which the aperture between it and the face 5 of drum 5 can be readily altered to suit circumstances. The adjacent end of the structure is left open, and across" this opening in vertical direction is arranged the movable chute 16, whose inner wall 17 is so proportioned as to project to a higher level than the upper edge of the blade 15. By moving the chute 16 up or down the position of the upper edge of wall 17 may be considerably shifted. WVe prefer to have the upper edge of this wall curved inwardly toward the drum 5, forming a deflector. The opposite end of the structure is connected by a pipe 18 with an exhaust-fan of sufficient power for the purpose. It will be observed that the hopper is closed at the bottom by means of a-swinging gate 19, hinged to the hopper'side and provided with an adjustable weight 20, so that when the load in the hopper exceeds a given amount the gate 19 will automatically open and discharge the contents in the same proportion as received into the hopper from above. By this means the bottom of the hop per is sealed against access of air at that point and the interior of the structure is kept substantially tight. The effect of the exhaustfan drawing air powerfully through the airpipe 13 is to cause a strong blast of air between the blade 15 and the drum 5, as also upwardly through the chute 16 and the chute formed between the wall 17 and the end wall of the structure, all such currents of air concentrating at the aperture between blade 15 and drum 5, whereby the fine dust, which constitutes a large and when the ore is worked dry a troublesome proportion of the gangue, is continually drawn away from the dischargeopenings and expelled from the building in which the process may be carried on along with the powerful air-currents set up by the fan. An additional and important function of the current of air thus set up and directed is that such current after passing the blade 15 crosses the path of the falling body of gangue which first comes away from the drum, and as such gangue is largely composed of a light, fine dust, the latter is immediately diverted from its downward path and carried by the lateral sweep of the air-current along with the fine dust already taken up by said current in the neighborhood of the opening between blade 15 and the drum and is swept away through the pipe 13. Such dust, both that in the falling gangue and that in the attracted ore, is

therefore prevented from passing out at the blade 15. This important function is attained in a simple manner by the co-operation of the fan, the chamber below the drum, and the opening between blade 15 and the drum, and the process is further simplified by the automatic action of the sliding trap at the bottom of the chamber.

In operating this apparatus we drive the drum in the direction of the arrow at such speed as to set up a powerful centrifugal tendency. As an example, in a case where the drum 5 will be, say, twenty-four inches in diameter,we would give it a speed of approximately two hundred revolutions per minute. Under these conditions the ore and gangue passing down the apron 11 are brought into close proximity to the surface of the drum 5, and when the first magnetic pole is reached a powerful magnetic attraction is set up for the particles of ore, and this magnetic centripetal force will in all cases be made to exceed the centrifugal tendency. As the mass moves forward with the drum 5, as soon as the lower edge of the apron 11 has been passed the centrifugal force, together with the force of gravity, is free to act, and the unattracted gangue, together with some feebly-attracted particles having small portions of adhering iron, is violently thrown oi the drum downwardly into the hopper, while the remaining particles adhere to the drum 5 as it moves to the left. As the drum moves onwardly, the adhering magnetic particles approach the blade 15 and there meet with the powerful inward or contrary blast of air. If the process is being operated in the dry way, this air current tends to take away from the particles of ore all adhering particles of gangue before the ore has reached its last moment of magnetic attraction. If the process is being carried on in the wet way, this current of air toward and at the blade 15 becomes a powerful agent in evaporating the adhering water from the remaining cleaned ore and permits its delivery in an almost dry condition. As the revolving drum 5 moves onwardly and the adhering. particles of ore approach a point where the magnetic attraction or centripetal force no longer exceeds the opposing centrifugal force, the latter begins to preponderate and the particles of ore are thereby forcibly thrown out and away from the drum 5 in a tangential direction. The particles which contain the least iron of course are driven ofi first, and those containing the most iron adhere the longest. The result is that by properly adjusting the chute 16 it can be arranged that a low grade of separated ore will be proj ected against the deflecting-wall 17 and fall down the chute between it and the end of the structure, and the higher grade of separated ore will all be projected beyond the deflecting-wall and pass down the chute 16. Obviously the peculiar results thus obtained may be arrived at with different constructions other than the one herein set forth; but we do not confine ourselves to any particular apparatus or special relations of its parts, except such as are necessary to carry our invention into practical effect, substantially as herein described.

WVe claim as our invention- 1. The process of separating iron or its crushed ore from impurities, consisting in passing the ore and gangue past a succession of two or more magnetic poles of alternating polarity while interposing a non-magneticscreen between the ore and the poles, and after such passage causing the separated ore to be thrown from the magnetic field in traj ectories varying with the richness of the ore, and then interposing a deflector in the path of the separated ore to separate the leaner from the richer portions.

2. The process of separating iron or its crushed ore from impurities, consisting in passing the ore and gangue into and carrying the attracted portions through a magnetic field of alternating polarity, permitting the unattracted portions to fall from such field, while causing currents of air to move first along the path of the attracted ore in an opposite direction to the same, and then to move laterally across the path of the unattracted gangue, so as to remove from both the separated ore and the unattracted gangue the fine dust contained therein.

3. The process of separating iron or its crushed ore from impurities, consisting in mingling water with the ore and gangue, passing the mass into a magnetic field, and while separating the unattracted gangue subjecting the wet ore to the evaporative action of a current of air.

4. The process of separating iron or its crushed ore from impurities, consisting in mingling water with the mass, then subjecting the latter to the simultaneous action of magnetic attraction and centrifugal repulsion, while at the same time causing a current of air to impinge upon the separated iron or ore.

5. An ore-separator comprising a magnetic field, a non-magnetic screen below and moving through said field, means for delivering the ore and gangue Within the magnetic field, and a chamber below said screen. having openings respectively near the beginning and end of the magnetic field, and means for causing a current of air to move through said openings and across the chamber in a direction opposite that of the screen.

6. An ore-separator comprising a magnetic field, a non-magnetic screen below and moving through said field, means for delivering the ore and gangue within the magnetic field, openings respectively near the beginning and end of the magnetic field, means for causing a current of air to move through said openings and across the chamber in a direction opposite that of the screen, a discharge-opening at the bottom of said chamber, and a valve or gate across said opening.

In testimony whereof We affix our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

' CLINTON M. BALL.

SHELDON NORTON. Witnesses as to Clinton M. Ball:

L. VERNON Braces, H. G. BROOKE, W'itnesses as to Sheldon Norton:

JAMEs HAUSMAN, D. W. MOFETRIDGE. 

